THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — LeBron James said Game 5 of the NBA finals was going to be the most important of his life.
He responded with a triple-double.
Even that wasn’t enough for the Miami Heat.
His final line: 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, the first triple-double in Heat playoff history and the seventh of his post-season career. Still, the Heat fell to the Dallas Mavericks 112-103 on Thursday night, falling behind 3-2 in the title series.
"The only thing that applies to me is a win. Win or a loss," James said. "I could have made a couple more plays for my team, but at the end of the day, all it is about is a win or a loss. And a triple-double means absolutely nothing, you know, in a loss."
With that, his "Now or Never!!" post on Twitter at 2:27 a.m. Eastern time Thursday looks more than a little ominous for the Heat, who have to win two games at home to take the title. Game 6 is in Miami on Sunday night.
"Triple-double," Heat forward Chris Bosh said. "We just didn’t win the game."
According to the NBA and STATS LLC, James’ was the 29th triple-double in finals history. But he was held to two points in the fourth quarter again, and those came with 29.6 seconds remaining. He had been stuck on 15 points for 15 minutes before his final basket of the game.
"I don’t think it was a case of offence again tonight," James said. "There was enough offensive play. We shot 52 per cent, they shot 56 per cent. We scored 103 points, they scored 112. The offence wasn’t a problem."
James has been criticized throughout the finals for his offence, especially late in games. His scoring and field goal totals dropped from the previous game in each of the three most recent finals outings. A slight uptick came Thursday, when James shot 8 for 19 from the field.
James has 11 points in the five fourth quarters of this series. By comparison, Mavs star Dirk Nowitzki has 52 in those periods.
"LeBron was much more aggressive tonight," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Obviously, he had a triple-double. And he had an impact on the game."
He had exceptional moments late in games against Chicago and Boston, particularly from beyond the three-point arc. But on Thursday, he was 0 for 4 on threes, including a miss that could have put Miami up by one with 1:50 left.
"Shot I made before," James said. "Just didn’t make it that time."
The Larry O’Brien Trophy was not awarded Thursday night, so technically, it wasn’t a now-or-never scenario for James.
But before the game, James’ teammates said they understood what he meant. And no explanation is necessary now, not staring at a 3-2 deficit.
"We wouldn’t have it any other way than the hard way," Spoelstra said.
James found it mildly humorous that his late-night tweet generated so much attention. He came into Thursday looking to recover from his lowest-scoring post-season game in 90 career outings, an eight-point night in Game 4, after which he’s heard two days of questions about not carrying more of the offensive workload.
"Whatever I do … someone is going to say something about it," James said.
More will be said until Sunday night as well. James took only two free throws in Game 5, and hasn’t shot more than four during any game in this series. It’s the first time in his career that he’s gone five games without taking at least five free throws.
"We as a team, we played good enough to win again," James said. "Put ourself in position to win down the stretch. Everyone, guys made plays. They just made a few more than we did. That’s what it came down to."
It can’t be that way on Sunday, or else his chase of a first ring will last at least another year.
"We’ll be better in Game 6," James said.
